Father faces trial in crash that killed son

San Diego  A father accused of fleeing after crashing his truck on Interstate 5 near Old Town, leaving behind his 4-year-old son who died later, was ordered to stand trial Tuesday on felony charges.

Angelo Fabiani Arroyo, 40, faces one count of child endangerment and one count of hit and run causing serious injury to Valentino Fabiani, who died at Rady Children’s Hospital eight days after the crash.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Amalia Meza determined at the end of the preliminary hearing that a prosecutor had presented sufficient evidence for Angelo Fabiani to be tried.

At the time of the June 2 crash, the defendant was on probation for misdemeanor driving under the influence.

According to testimony at the hearing, Fabiani was driving his pickup on I-5 when he lost control. The truck went off the side of the freeway near Rosecrans Street and down an embankment before it hit a palm tree.

The 2004 Nissan Titan came to rest on a concrete retaining wall above Jefferson Street.

Arroyo got out of the pickup and walked to the passenger side, where he reached in through a window and unbuckled his son from a car seat. The boy then fell more than seven feet to the pavement below.

Dr. Jacquelyn Morhaime, a deputy medical examiner who performed the autopsy, said the boy died as a result of blunt-force injuries to his head, including a fracture on the back of his skull. He also had multiple bruises, scrapes and cuts.

She classified the death as an accident.

Deputy District Attorney Marisa Di Tillio argued near the end of the hearing that Fabiani was negligent when he unbuckled the child from the seat, causing him to fall to the ground, and then fled.

“All he had to do was wait,” Di Tillio said in court.

She also argued that two days after the crash, Fabiani apparently exchanged messages on Facebook with a friend in Mexico, asking for help getting across the border.

The prosecutor said the defendant and his friend arranged to meet at a fast-food restaurant in Imperial Beach, but Fabiani was intercepted by law enforcement before the meeting could take place.

Defense attorney Hector Tamayo argued in court that the crash, and the resulting injuries to Valentino, were all “a tragic accident.” He declined to discuss the case further outside the courtroom.

If convicted, Fabiani faces a possible sentence of up to seven years in prison. He remains out of custody on $500,000 bail.